Wednesday, 3 September 2008

Another game of Great War, but this time a more open battle, set in Mesopotamia, and with a single objective: seize the ruins. No limit was placed on the number of turns so that it could take up the entire night (the table was also bigger than 6x4 so the extra turns would be needed). Reinforcements were also available based on die roll. The Turks have been strengthen with the presence of some German Jaegers and Cavalry, The British with an Armoured Car and a very large wooden crate with 'water tank' stenciled on the side.

The Germans advance! Jaegers in the Centre and cavalry on both flanks. The infantry objective: To capture and hold the ruins in the centre of the table. The cavalry objective: Charge!

The initial British force. Note the Armoured Car in the Centre. The nearest units (platoon and MG) took the brunt of the Cavalry charge. Due to both the Infantry and MG moving the cavalry managed to charge in without receiving any serious fire. The Cavalry command section took out the MG before getting shot to pieces the next turn, the accompanying cavalry troop ending up in a similar situation, knocking the enemy platoon below five figures but dropping below five themselves. (These were the first close assaults we had done in either game, we reran the combat after getting things wrong the first time, and I think we also got it wrong the second as well, utilising the 'fix bayonets' as a modifier rather than an extra die each.)

Both sides attempt to take the strategically valuable hill on the Germans left flank. The Germans managed to get the MG onto the hill and pin down the British unit visible on the hill. The British assault against it fails despite damaging the crew badly, and leaves the hill open for the Turkish reinforcements that were making their way onto the field. If the cavalry had not taken out the British MG earlier then the situation would probably of been reversed. The Armoured Car in the distance was now effectively out of commission after having its MG destroyed. Prior to this it had caused real problems, almost single handedly taking out the other cavalry troop.

The Central Powers managed to claim the victory by re-taking the ruins. The British never managed to get any troops into them but had cleared out the German force that had originally seized them. The British never managed to get their tank into action and got minimal service from their light mortars due to some terrible reinforcement rolls, unlike the Central Powers who got access to the Turk reinforcements almost immediately (but did miss out on the available light artillery till too late in the day).

Breaking News: Rumour has it that the British may be getting some mounted reinforcements from the Bengal district of the sub-continent.